


Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop

by Erica_T



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Darcy/Steve Holiday Fic/Art Exchange, F/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erica_T/pseuds/Erica_T
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Nourgelitnius.  A Modern day AU, featuring a pre-serum Steve, student Darcy, a coffee shop and Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ladysarah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladysarah/gifts).



> For Nourgelitnius (Ladysarah) who prompted: 
> 
> Falling In Love In A Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg / AU if possible. If it works for you, then maybe Darcy is still in College but Steve isn't a student or professor (guest speaker or anything else is good).
> 
> Away from home for Christmas.
> 
> Ice Skating.
> 
>  
> 
> I chose the first prompt because that was the one that had the most thought put into it and seemed to be the one that she wanted the most. 
> 
> The fic then proceeded to kick my ass seven ways to Sunday. It resisted being written so much that I was about to give up and try one of the other prompts, when I rewatched the video for the song and thought of Pre-serum Steve. So it became a pre-serum Steve ModernAU. 
> 
> Many thanks to nessismore, for not only organizing the exchange, but also for being truly awesome and beta-ing this on Christmas Eve. 
> 
> Also, the song is beautiful, I would recommend finding it on youtube and giving a listen. 
> 
> Merry Christmas Nourgelitnius! I hope you like your present!

"Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop"  
  
  
His pencil traveled across the page, filling in the details of her hairstyle with an expert hand.   
  
She was always beautiful, and that day was no exception, dark hair cascading loosely over her shoulders, pulled back out of her face with a hairband.  Every once in a while she eyed people passing her table over the tops of her glasses.  It's a look he liked to draw because she always looked mischievous when she did it, and because he knew that she was looking for him.   
  
She scanned the regular customers, the people that are here nearly every day, looking for clues. He always had to hide a smile at how intent she is at it, even as busy as she always seems to be.   
  
He'd been coming to this coffee shop for months after he'd found it one day on a prowl. He had seen her, sitting at the same table then as she was now.  He'd been coming back ever since.  He'd found that he drew better here, whether its a sketch of her, or a project from work or something random for his own portfolio.  If he believed in muses, she'd probably be his.  He'd certainly never been this productive before he started drawing her regularly.   
  
It was Bucky's comment about her that had started this in the first place.  His friend has always had an eye for the ladies, and usually the eye is swiftly returned.  But Buck had seen Steve's drawings of her and told him that he should make a move before someone else snapped her up.   
  
The problem was Steve's track record with girls has not historically been all that good.  When Bucky's around, all female eyes are inevitably drawn to him.  No one usually spared a thought or a glance for his slender buddy, unless she thought she could get closer to Bucky through him.  He'd been there more than once.   
  
Usually, he'd be okay with that.  The kind of girls that Bucky likes weren't really the kind that Steve's into anyway.  He'd had enough luck with assorted left out friends that he's not utterly hopeless with women when called for.  But this girl...she's different.  Even though he doesn't know her name, there's something about her that draws him to her.  He'd been studying her for long enough that he knew something of what she's like, and he likes her, a lot.  He really didn't want her to look at him and find him lacking.  
  
He'd been coming here long enough to know her routine.  She would come into the shop, set up her books, get her coffee and chat with the barista a few minutes, then she'll work for a while.  After she's finished her coffee, and before she packs up to go, she'll go into the ladies room.   
  
Last week, Steve started using that window of time to his advantage, and he left her one of the first drawings he'd done of her.  The way that her eyes had lit up when she spied it on top of her stack of books...he wanted to see her look that happy all the time.  He'd been leaving her a drawing now every time he was in the shop at the same time she was, and he was thinking that it was time to step up his game.  
  
  
* * *  
  
She hadn't come that day.  
  
Steve was equal parts relieved and disappointed.  He was disappointed because he would have to postpone his plan until after Christmas, though in hindsight, he probably shouldn't have expected her to be there on Christmas Eve.  Even though she was always in the coffee shop by herself, she did use her cellphone a lot.  More than likely she was with family or friends for Christmas.  He was also relieved because Bucky had chosen today of all days to follow him to this 'fabulous' coffee shop, and he was pestering him about coming to some party that their friends from work were throwing that night.  He didn't want Bucky to see her here and start teasing him about it.  Plus, he also didn't want to watch Bucky flirt with her, or inevitably, watch her flirt back.   
  
"C'mon Steve, everyone's going to be there, and it's not like you have anywhere else to be tonight.  It's Christmas Eve, let's do something!"  
  
He rolled his eyes.   
  
"Buck...you know I'm not good with parties."  
  
"But this is people you know, Nat's going to be there, and that Barton guy too.  You get a long with them, right?"  
  
"Barton's okay, but the last time I tried to talk to Natasha, she stared at me the whole time like she was calculating how fast she could take me apart and rearrange my insides.  It's...unnerving."   
  
"Okay, so she's intense, but there's gonna be loads of people from work there and..."  
  
"Bucky, you and I work in very different departments."  
  
"It'll be fun, Steve!"  His friend was nothing if not persistent, he'd always been like that.  Bucky was pulling him by the sleeve now though, and Steve, focused more on releasing himself from Bucky's grip didn't see her until it was too late.   
  
He turned too quick, and he collided with the curvy little brunette that he'd been eyeing for the last months and they crashed to the floor in a mess of limbs, books and papers.   
  
"I am so sorry."  He said, immediately levering himself up so he wasn't lying directly on top of her, and she was staring up at him with wide blue eyes.  
  
"S'okay," she said, a little winded.  "But anytime you want to get off my lungs, feel free."  He scrambled up and set about gathering the scattered belongings from the floor.  Bucky, being ever so helpful, was standing to the side, laughing at him.  
  
"Here..let me get these for you..." He said as he gathered up some of her scattered papers, and realized that he was picking up his own drawings, the ones that he'd been leaving for her.  It gave him a warm thrill that she'd kept them with her.   
  
A thrill which lasted until he went to hand her her things and noticed that she was holding his sketchbook.  His sketchbook, which was largely filled with drawings of her, and was now sitting open to the last sketch of her that he'd been working on the last time he'd been in the shop.   
  
"It _is_ you..."  she said with a smile, as her fingers traced the graphite on the page.  "you're my artist."   
  
Steve shifted from foot to foot.  
  
"Uhm.  Yeah."   
  
He was sure that Bucky was snickering at his eloquence.  Perfect.  
  
"You're amazing!  I've never seen myself look so good, you make me look so gorgeous."  
  
"You are gorgeous."  He blurted out before he could stop himself, and her smile turned into a grin as she looked up at him from the floor.  
  
"I've been trying to catch you at it.  But you're pretty sneaky."   
  
Moment of awkwardness forgotten, he found himself grinning down at her, and he offered her a hand up.  
  
"I'm Steve."   
  
"Darcy."   
  
Once standing, this close, he was barely an inch taller than she was, maybe two, and her eyes were even prettier when he could see them up close like this.  His fingers itched for his coloured pencils.   
  
He realized, when Bucky cleared his throat and stuck a hand between them that he was still holding her hand.   
  
"James Barnes.  My friends call me Bucky."  He said.  Steve let go of her hand reluctantly, feeling the loss of contact in his gut as a swirl of bitter disappointment.  His plan was completely blown.  If he'd been able to meet her on his own, he'd have been able to ask her out on a date, or at least join him for a cup of coffee.  He never stood a chance when Bucky was around, and it just wasn't fair.  
  
Steve watched, stepping back as she shook Bucky's hand briefly, and much to his surprise, only passed her eyes over him equally briefly before she stepped closer to him once more.   
  
"You're not leaving, are you?  I would love to see more of your drawings..."   
  
Steve blinked, and the disappointment disappeared in an instant.   
  
"I...well..."  
  
"Stay."  Her eyes were entreating him.  "I'll buy you a cup of coffee."   
  
Bucky clapped him on the back with a grin and disappeared without another word, and Steve smiled at her.   
  
"I'd like that."   
  
"Good!  Shall we?"  She gestured to the table that he and Bucky had been sitting at, where she dropped her back and set his book down. She took back her things from him before she bounced off the to counter to order their drinks.   
  
She came back with some confection of a coffee for herself.  She had one plain black coffee for him, which she gave him with a sheepish grin.   
  
"Sorry...I didn't ask how you liked your coffee."  
  
"Black is fine."   
  
"Excellent."   
  
She flopped into the chair with a weary sigh and hummed dramatically when she took a sip of her coffee.  She liked her coffee, a lot.  He'd figured that out pretty quickly. Then she turned a sunny smile at him and reached for the sketchbook.   
  
"Okay, I am dying to see what else you have in here."   
  
He laughed and waved in its general direction.   
  
"Just...don't be creeped out by how many pictures of you are in there."   
  
She laughed in return.  
  
"You been stalking me, Steve?"   
  
If her tone hadn't been so light and teasing, he probably would have stammered out something that would have had him putting his foot permanently in his mouth.  However, since she was still grinning at him, and she was obviously teasing him, he couldn't resist.  
  
"Maybe a little.  You're gorgeous, can you blame me?"  
  
"That's a good answer."   
  
And then she opened up the book.  He watched her expressions filter across her face as she examined each sketch.  Many were of her, as he'd stated, but he a lot of other drawings in there too, some stuff related to projects at work, and bits and pieces of the city that he drew when he was out in other places.  She looked at each one thoroughly, and when she closed the book, she was still smiling.   
  
"You're really good.  Do you do this for a living?"   
  
He nodded.   
  
"Yeah.  I work in graphic design mostly, but I take commissions once in a while.  Right now I have a position in the media and marketing department at Stark Industries."   
  
She nodded sagely.  Everyone knew that Stark was a good gig to have, no matter the department.   
  
"Stark's a great place if you can get it.  I've seen a few former classmates get shot down, but they were assholes, so it was pretty funny."  
  
"I guess they are kind of picky about who they hire."   
  
"Gotta be good to get into Stark.  My girlfriend got headhunted last year.  She's an astrophysicist."   
  
Steve ran through the names of all the scientists he knew there, he was pretty friendly with most of them.  
  
"Jane Foster?"  
  
She grinned at him.   
  
"Yep.  I often have to make sure her boyfriend remembers to make her eat.  Nice guy, but gets distracted sometimes and forgets."   
  
Steve couldn't be more amazed.  
  
"You know Thor too?  He's a buddy of ours, he and Bucky work on the same team, and he's been teaching me defense moves that won't end up with me getting a bloody nose."   
  
She laughed heartily.   
  
"Has he told you the story of the co-ed who tased him in his senior year?"  
  
"That was YOU?"  
  
"You bet.  In my defence, he was drunk off his ass and was freaking me out.  He's offered to teach me that hand to hand stuff, but I'm perfectly happy with my taser, thank you very much."  
  
Steve blinked at her and took a sip of his coffee.  
  
"Small world, I guess."  
  
"I know, right?  Here you've been drawing pictures of me for what?  A couple of months?  While I've been secretly hoping that you were my artist the whole time, and if we hadn't crashed into each other like a scene from an epic romantic comedy, we'd have probably met at the party that Jane wants me to go to tonight.  I assume that your friend was trying to talk you into going to that as well."  
  
"You assume correctly."   
  
"Wild.  Okay, I'm texting Jane right now and telling her that I am totally forgoing the party."  
  
"Oh..you don't have to on my account...."  he started, he didn't want her to feel obligated or anything.  She shot him a sharp look from her phone.   
  
"If not yours, then whose?  I didn't want to go anyway, and Jane wasn't going to accept any excuse aside from I finally met the guy who's been drawing me those pictures, or I was getting laid, or both."  She paused a moment to look down at her phone again, and then looked back up at him.  "Just so you know, I'm going with the first excuse.  For now, anyway."   
  
Steve had no answer for that, aside from a sudden swarm of butterflies that let loose in his stomach.  When she was finished with her phone, she made a point of turning it off and putting it away.  Her eyes glowed at him across the table.  
  
"For the record...I'm much happier that we met here."  She said quietly.  He smiled at her.   
  
"So am I."   
  
She leaned back in her chair and eyed him up and down, assessing him.   
  
"So, Steve.  How is it that you're all by yourself on  Christmas Eve?  Nevermind that your friend wanted to drag you off to some wild party."   
  
Steve shrugged and mirrored her position.   
  
"I don't really have family.  Bucky's the closest I've got, really. We grew up together.  He means well, he just...he's had different experiences than I have, and he's more at home with crowds of people sometimes."   
  
"That's fair.  I've never been a party goer much either.  Except for science parties, because those are highly entertaining."  
  
"I'll take your word for it."   
  
"But...I guess what I'm asking is how come no girl has snapped you up?  You're a nice, good looking guy, and..."   
  
Steve barked out a laugh, one that was probably a bit more bitter than he wanted it to be.   
  
"You know the saying 'nice guys finish last'?  It's entirely true in my case.  Most girls just don't see me when Bucky's around.  The ones that do...they're usually just hoping that he'll notice them if they're nice to me."  
  
"Stupid."  
  
"What?"  
  
"They're all stupid, those girls."  
  
"Next to Buck, I'm kind of unspectacular."  
  
She put her cup down with a deliberate thunk and leaned forward until she was practically breathing in his air.   
  
"But that's what makes you spectacular, Steve.  That you can be such a nice guy while your buddy's getting all the action.  And all of those girls, they're stupid for not seeing it.  But, I can't say that I'm not happy about that, because if some other girl had seen it before now, I wouldn't have the chance to be sitting here with you."   
  
She had been looking him in the eye as she talked, and his heart beat faster when her eyes dipped briefly to his mouth.   
  
"Lucky you."  He managed to say, a bit hoarsely, his mouth was suddenly dry and he was unable to look away from her mouth in return.  Her lips curved into a sultry smile.  It was positively wicked, and he liked it.    
  
"Oh yes, very lucky me."   
  
Then she leaned back again, and collected her bag, standing and holding out her hand to him.  
  
"C'mon."   
  
He took it, standing when she pulled.  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"My place.  Your place.  Whichever one of our places is going to be better to spend Christmas together in.  I have a tree, cookies, food and pie.  What have you got?"   
  
Steve coughed and he smiled ruefully.   
  
"A tree and a roommate who'll probably come back from his party in the small hours of the morning with a girl."   
  
She screwed up her face in apparent thought, though the time it took for her to voice the decision told him she'd already decided, probably before he'd even said anything.       
  
"My place is the better deal.  Let's go.  If you want, we can stop by your place if you need stuff like a change of clothes and toothbrush."  
  
The mischievous grin that she was giving him told him that she wasn't letting him go now that she had him.  
  
He was remarkably okay with that.  
  
  
* * *  
  
Her place was, in her words, a cozy hole.  
  
It was a tiny one bedroom on the third floor.  Her living room was divided from her kitchen by the counter and her bedroom was off a short hallway, with her bathroom adjacent to the bedroom.  She had decorated on a thrift budget, she'd said as she moved through the room, dropping her stuff as she went.  But for a place on a student budget it was decent.  There was no mold, the door locked and there wasn't an abundance of shady characters in the building.  At least that he'd seen, anyway.  
  
"Scholarship money is good, and being a T.A. makes okay money, but it's not living rich."   
  
"You're still at school then?"   
  
"Yep.  My parents despair my ever leaving it, but there really aren't a lot of jobs out there in political science.  Staying and doing a Masters seemed like a better idea."   
  
"What are you going to do with a Masters in political science?"   
  
"I have no idea.  The way I'm going I'll probably end up teaching it to other poor bastards like me."   
  
Steve made himself comfortable on her sofa while she plugged in her tree lights.  It was a nice tree.  Artificial, but it looked pretty in the corner and she'd decorated it in the kind of traditional ornaments that Steve remembered from his childhood, glass balls and teardrops, candy canes and tinsel.  At the top she had a pretty angel with dark hair like her own.  
  
"Is that what you want to do?"  He asked her.  She shrugged and went into the kitchen.  
  
"I don't know.  I went into school with big ideas, but as time went on, they got...boring.  I hate being bored, so I don't know.  I'm only twenty four, I have plenty of time to figure out my life.  Besides, the most interesting people in the world still don't know what they're doing with themselves.  It's not so bad, not knowing entirely what you want."  
  
He had to smile.   
  
"Bit of a free spirit then?"  
  
"Of course.  It's the only way I get on with my life sometimes.  Did you always want to be an artist?" She asked him, coming around with a tin of cookies and settling herself next to him on the sofa.  
  
"Yeah, I think so.  I wasn't exactly healthy as a kid.  My mom worked hard just to make ends meet, so there wasn't a lot money around for a lot the things that the other kids had, anything new I got, my mom usually had to scrimp and save the entire year just to be able to fit it into the budget for my birthday or Christmas.  But, a pencil and a piece of paper?  That was easy to come by.  And I was good at it, my teachers were constantly wanting me to show it off.  I got into an Art College through a scholarship, or I'd never have been able to manage it."   
  
Darcy grinned around her cookie.   
  
"I like a man who's comfortable.  Makes up for me being batshit insane."  
  
"I don't think you're insane, batshit or otherwise."  
  
"You haven't been around me for a month straight.  Or during finals."   
  
"Well, I guess that's something to look forward to."  Steve suddenly realized what his mouth had just said, without permission from his brain, and he nearly choked on his own cookie. "I mean...ah fuck.  That's not really how I meant to say that..."   
  
But she was laughing, struggling to keep crumbs from spewing everywhere.   
  
"Relax," she said when got herself under control, "I'm not going to kick you out of here for implying that you'd like to stick around a while."  
  
She tucked hair behind her ear and the smile she gave him this time was speculative.   
  
"Actually, I think I'd like that, very much."   
  
Warmth was brewing in his gut and Steve liked it.   
  
"Yeah?"  
  
 "Yeah.  I don't invite just anybody home with me, you know.  Especially not on Christmas Eve."   
  
He did know actually.  He'd seen her effectively discourage the affections of quite a number of hopefuls, usually with well aimed glares and caustic rebuffs.  There had been one memorable occasion where he'd seen her order a coffee and dump it on a guy who hadn't taken the hint, and the barista had given her a box of cookies on the house.  He'd drawn a cartoon of it, it was in the sketchbook.  Not all of them had been terrible examples of human beings, in fact there'd been a few times where he'd worried he'd waited too long to make a move after all.  
  
"Why did you take me home then?"  He asked, curious about what it was that made him special enough to have this moment with her.   
  
"Well, you never tried to pick me up the way the rest of them did."   
  
"No, I just watched you from the corner of the coffee shop and drew pictures of you in borderline stalker behaviour."   
  
"Yeah, but you drew ME.  I've seen all of your drawings now, remember?  In all of them you capture me, not just my looks.  When you look at me, you don't just see a pair of tits.  I'm just not sure exactly why."   
  
"Why?"  
  
"Yeah.  I'm not the only girl that goes into that shop.  What was it about me that caught your attention?"  
  
Feeling bold, he reached across the space between them and picked up her hand in his, tracing over her fingers.   
  
"You are always yourself, and always completely unapologetic about it.  I think you're amazingly beautiful when you're being yourself.  That's what caught my attention."   
  
She was blushing, but the smile she was giving him was as bright as any that he'd seen.  She turned her hand and curled her fingers through his.  
  
It should have been awkward, sitting there on her sofa like they were.  It wasn't.  It just felt comfortable, and maybe a little bit anticipatory, the way her eyes were glowing in the light from her Christmas tree.  She licked her lips and shifted her focus on their joined hands.  
  
"You know, I find that one of the most telling things about a man are his hands."  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Mhmm.  I have found that a man's hands tell the most about what he's like in bed.  Rough hands, rough sex, you know?"   
  
"Okay, I can get behind that.  What can you tell about my hands?"   
  
She tugged herself closer and held his hand with both of hers.  
  
"These are some strong hands.  Enough wear and tear that it's obvious you use your hands, but not on anything that would leave them in really rough shape. Nimble, artist's fingers, I would say that they're probably very, very clever fingers.  You ever do any nude drawings?"   She was grinning at him wickedly, and the sudden change in the subject didn't dim the heat that had been running through him as she'd described his hands.   
  
"Not in a long time."  
  
"Do you want to?"  
  
"God yes."  
  
Whatever she might have said in return he cut off by pressing his mouth to hers.  It was exactly like he might have imagined it.  Her lips were soft against his, and they turned up in a smile under his mouth, a smile that he answered.  Her eyelashes fluttered against his face, and he cupped her face with his free hand, tilting her jaw enough for him to be able to nibble on her lower lip.  Her smile turned into a grin and her lips parted to allow him further access.  He traced her lip with his tongue and she returned the favour eagerly, humming into his mouth as she tangled her tongue with his.   
  
She tasted like coffee and the cookies that they had been eating, with a touch of cherry from her lip gloss.  He was sure that this was his new favourite flavour combination.   
  
They pulled back for air, barely an inch between them, breathing heavily.   
  
"Okay...wow."  She breathed, and leant her forehead against his.  
  
"Yeah."  He agreed with her.  He's kissed a few girls in his time, but no kiss before this had been as earth tilting as that one.  She breathed deeply and shifted close enough to hook a leg over his.   
  
"There had better be more where that came from."  
  
Steve laughed out loud, and she giggled right along with him.  He kissed her again, briefly and pulled back to look at her face.   
  
"You know, this isn't exactly what I had planned."  
  
"Oh yeah?  What did you have planned?"  
  
"Dinner and a movie.  Maybe dancing.  Was gonna do this right."  
  
"Hm.  That sounds nice, but...who says that this can't be right?  A Christmas together?"    
  
Steve ran his hand down her side, over her hip and gripped at the leg that was hooked over his lap.  She squeaked when he tugged her closer, almost onto his lap.   
  
"Absolutely no one."  He ducked his head and captured her mouth again, catching her lips already parted.   
  
She twisted her hands in his shirt tugging him forward until he was stretched out on top of her, pressed agains all her glorious curves.  
  
It was different, Steve thought vaguely as she tugged his shirt from his pants to get at skin, when you were were doing this with someone who was as interest as you were.  The few girls that he had done this with before had never been interested in him, not really.  He was a consolation prize.  But with Darcy...she met his every move with an eagerness that he'd never experienced, she was there with him for every kiss, answered every caress, ghosting her hands over his skin and arching into his touch.  It was exhilarating.   
  
"You are so beautiful..."  he whispered into her temple, and he felt her smile into his neck.   
  
"So are you."  She whispered back, and ran her fingers down the line of buttons on his shirt, nimble little things popping each one effortlessly.   
  
He paused though, when she pushed the shirt off his shoulders, his own hands under her shirt at her waist, caressing the soft skin there.   
  
"Are you sure about this?  We've really only just met."  
  
"Oh my god, you are so cute, come here."  
  
She pulled him down for another kiss, and then somehow managed to maneuver  them so that she was on top, resting her head against his neck.  That she'd managed to do it without them falling off the sofa was kind of amazing.  
  
"Truth?" she asked in whisper, and he nodded.  "I think I've been waiting for you all my life.  Certainly since you started leaving me those drawings.  I'd hoped it was you, you were always so alone in your corner, it broke my heart a little.  But...that day, that first drawing...that hadn't been such a good day until that point.  I was struggling with another paper in a long line of papers, and I'd turned one in that I was sure I'd really bombed, I'd had a presentation that morning that was awful...plus I'd had a fight with my mom.  I was feeling really low, and I was considering packing it all in and heading home with my tail tucked between my legs.  I hated that thought, because, well, I may not know what I'm going to do with my life, but failing at it is a terrible feeling.  There really wasn't anything to keep me here, as much as I love Jane, she has her own life, and she doesn't really need me.  And then there was this gorgeous picture staring up at me.  It was glorious, this version of me that I didn't know existed.  And she was owning all that work and making it do her bidding, not the other way around.  That Darcy, she wouldn't give up not when she'd come so far.  It gave me a reason to keep on trucking, because if a stranger in a coffee shop could see me like that, well, so could I.  You are the reason I'm still here."   
  
The idea that she had been this close to leaving, that if he'd waited only one more day to start making a move he'd have lost his chance was jarring.  But the idea that it was something of his that changed her mind, that doing something nice for her let her know that she was more amazing than she thought, that was really huge.  
  
"So, yes, I'm sure about this.  Are you okay with that?"  
  
Steve gripped her hips tightly.   
  
"I'm more than okay with that.  I just don't want to be something you regret."   
  
"Never.  Would you regret me?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"Never."   
  
She ducked her head and kissed him again, and started to work her hands under his t-shirt.     
  
* * *  
  
Steve woke to daylight filtering through Darcy's multicoloured curtains and the lights of her Christmas tree still twinkling away in the corner of her living room.  He was warm, and Darcy was a draped over his chest, still naked.   
  
If there was a better way to wake up on Christmas morning, he wasn't sure what it could be.   
  
She'd pulled a soft throw blanket off the back of the couch they'd been sleeping on sometime during the night, and it was huge enough that they'd stayed warm all night.  Carefully, he eased himself out from under her and padded quietly first to the bathroom, and then to his bag on the floor, where he picked up his sketchbooks and his pencils.  He sat down cross legged on the floor across from Darcy's still sleeping form.   
  
If she'd been beautiful the night before in all her glory, she was gorgeous in the early morning light, skin glowing in the light from the tree and her hair flowing all around her.   
  
This was the one way he'd never drawn her, and he was happy to rectify that now.       
  
He wasn't sure how long he worked for, but he was nearly finished when she stirred, a smile spreading across her face as she stretched.   
  
"Hey you," she murmured, sleep still thick in her voice.  "Stalkin' me again?"   
  
He smiled up at her.   
  
"Maybe a little."  
  
"Can I see?"  
  
"Almost done.  Have I mentioned lately that you're gorgeous?"  
  
"Maybe once or twice.  And once more in the throes of passion."   
  
He laughed, and added the last touches to the sketch.   
  
"There."   
  
She grinned mischievously and, biting the corner of her lip, she rolled off the sofa and shuffled over, still wrapped in the blanket.  She peered at it over his arm, and her slow intake of breath was the only reaction, until she reached out and traced her fingertips over the image of her face, much like she had done the day before in the shop.  Leaning against his shoulder, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.  
  
"Promise you'll always see me like this?"  
  
He turned and kissed her mouth gently.   
  
"Of course.  This is who you are."   
  
She smiled and pressed her forehead to his.  
  
"Merry Christmas Steve."  
  
"Merry Christmas Darcy." 


End file.
